Proposed changes to the forums

[Sharky]

Following the move to the new site, I'd like to take this opportunity to propose some changes to the forums, the idea of this thread is to get everyone's feedback on those changes and to let you all make your own suggestions on how we can improve the categorisation of the forums.

So to start the conversation going, here are my own thoughts on changes we could make. Mostly it's renaming, but there's a bit of splitting and merging as well..

• Split out "Algorithmic Trading" from "Trading Systems" - the former being discussion on programming methods, the latter being the systems themselves .
• Rename "Data Feeds" to "Data Sets & Feeds" to reflect the importance of good quality data sets for algorithmic traders.
• Merge "Forex Brokers" into "Brokerages" and rename to simply "Brokers" - as it's more commonly referred to.
• Rename Stocks to Stocks & ETFs - and move any ETF threads there.
• Rename the "Futures & Options" forum to just "Options" and move futures threads into the appropriate market related forum, eg. Indices, Commodities etc.
• Rename "Indices" to "Index Futures" to emphasise that Futures is now merged into these other forums.
• Rename "Commodities & Money Markets" to ‘Commodity Futures & Money Markets" - for similar reasons.
• Close the "Fixed Odds" forum - association with Binary Betting is toxic and these could be moved into General Trading Chat
• Rename "Economic & Fundamental Analysis" to "News (or Political), Economic & Fundamental Analysis"
• Rename "Daily Analysis" to "Daily Market Analysis"
• Rename "Trading Systems" to "Trading Systems & Indicators"

If you agree/disagree or have your own suggestions, please spend a couple of minutes reviews the list of forums; and please do share your own thoughts.

 

[tomorton]

I have to say I always access the site via "New Posts", never via the Forums page. I usually get the gist of threads of personal interest from the title line but there are certain Forums from which I ignore all threads - like Cryptocurrencies, Trading Software, Data Feeds etc. So vague title lines are pretty frustrating.

I obviously do refer to the Forums page when selecting where to start a new thread. But this isn't frequent. Actually, when doing this, I almost always find there would typically be two or three or four forums I could choose from to start my new thread so always starting from a position of confusion.

To my mind, all this suggests too much Forum title work from the site team and too little subject line info work from the posters. Just don't ask me for the solution.

 

[Sharky]

I have to say I always access the site via "New Posts", never via the Forums page. I usually get the gist of threads of personal interest from the title line but there are certain Forums from which I ignore all threads - like Cryptocurrencies, Trading Software, Data Feeds etc. So vague title lines are pretty frustrating.

I obviously do refer to the Forums page when selecting where to start a new thread. But this isn't frequent. Actually, when doing this, I almost always find there would typically be two or three or four forums I could choose from to start my new thread so always starting from a position of confusion.

To my mind, all this suggests too much Forum title work from the site team and too little subject line info work from the posters. Just don't ask me for the solution.

I think most of the regulars, myself included, do exactly the same as you in terms of New Posts being the main way of accessing the forums. The value of the categorisation is mostly for new members finding their feet. I agree that it's often confusing to know where to start a new thread, as arguably it could fit into several forums, and consequently a lot of threads end up in General Trading Chat which really aids nobody. There is an argument for having a fairly major overhaul and cutting right back the number of forums. That's a much bigger job, so for now I just wanted to make some 'common-sense' changes to get us on the right track.

 

[Trader333]

I am not sure that Fundamental analysis is in the same general general category as economic / political. When looking at fundamentals I am looking at how a company is likely to perform based on the key aspects of its business model. Whilst it can be affected by economics and politics, so can every trading instrument out there. Either way it is not a major issue.

 

[NVP]

Following the move to the new site, I'd like to take this opportunity to propose some changes to the forums, the idea of this thread is to get everyone's feedback on those changes and to let you all make your own suggestions on how we can improve the categorisation of the forums.

So to start the conversation going, here are my own thoughts on changes we could make. Mostly it's renaming, but there's a bit of splitting and merging as well..

• Split out "Algorithmic Trading" from "Trading Systems" - the former being discussion on programming methods, the latter being the systems themselves .
• Rename "Data Feeds" to "Data Sets & Feeds" to reflect the importance of good quality data sets for algorithmic traders.
• Merge "Forex Brokers" into "Brokerages" and rename to simply "Brokers" - as it's more commonly referred to.
• Rename Stocks to Stocks & ETFs - and move any ETF threads there.
• Rename the "Futures & Options" forum to just "Options" and move futures threads into the appropriate market related forum, eg. Indices, Commodities etc.
• Rename "Indices" to "Index Futures" to emphasise that Futures is now merged into these other forums.
• Rename "Commodities & Money Markets" to ‘Commodity Futures & Money Markets" - for similar reasons.
• Close the "Fixed Odds" forum - association with Binary Betting is toxic and these could be moved into General Trading Chat
• Rename "Economic & Fundamental Analysis" to "News (or Political), Economic & Fundamental Analysis"
• Rename "Daily Analysis" to "Daily Market Analysis"
• Rename "Trading Systems" to "Trading Systems & Indicators"

If you agree/disagree or have your own suggestions, please spend a couple of minutes reviews the list of forums; and please do share your own thoughts.

all sounds good to me ....main,y semantics here anyway......i only ever just press new posts anyway to see what’s happening

N

 

[Sharky]

I am not sure that Fundamental analysis is in the same general general category as economic / political. When looking at fundamentals I am looking at how a company is likely to perform based on the key aspects of its business model. Whilst it can be affected by economics and politics, so can every trading instrument out there. Either way it is not a major issue.

That's a fair point, micro versus macro.. it might then better then to split out Fundamental Analysis and lump Financial, Economic & Political News together.

 

[NVP]

hey sharky

how do you see how many are viewing your threads now ? .....i use it to gauge if its worth me posting live comments on market

 

[Sharky]

hey sharky

how do you see how many are viewing your threads now ? .....i use it to gauge if its worth me posting live comments on market

Just checked and it's not available out of the box, there's an add-on I could install that does it, which would work the same as before showing you who's viewing the thread at the bottom of the page.

 

[Sharky]

If there are no further comments from anyone, then I'll proceed with making the changes later today, noting Paul's suggestion re. the Fundamentals forum. Thanks!

 

[Atilla]

If there are no further comments from anyone, then I'll proceed with making the changes later today, noting Paul's suggestion re. the Fundamentals forum. Thanks!

Is it possible to view most recent blogs first, at the top please?

This was an option and my preference with the old site.

 

[Sharky]

Is it possible to view most recent blogs first, at the top please?

This was an option and my preference with the old site.

I'm afraid not, the new software is chronological only. It's in constant development though, and we'll be keeping up with the latest updates, so it's possible it'll be an option in the future, just not now.

 

[dbphoenix]

I'm afraid not, the new software is chronological only. It's in constant development though, and we'll be keeping up with the latest updates, so it's possible it'll be an option in the future, just not now.

It would help if clicking on a thread took you to the first unread post, or the last post, whichever applies, rather than the first post in the thread. Or maybe I'm doing this wrong.

Db

 

[Sharky]

Yeah I think the only problem with that is sooner or later you'll click 'mark all as read', then everything will take you to the end of the thread. Which isn't always what you want. Tricky one, I can see for regulars it probably makes more the way you described. Perhaps we'll just add a quick icon next to each thread title to automatically go to the last post, I think that's probably the best compromise.

 

[Sharky]

Most of the changes suggested on the first post have now been actioned, it will take a bit of time to properly populate the new 'Coding & Algorithmic Trading' forum, and also move out all Futures threads from the Options forum. As always if anyone has suggestions for improvements however minor, do share.